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National Fruitcake Day 2023
BOOYAH! It’s National Fruitcake Day and before you say “You are what you eat“, just take a moment to indulge me in yet another holiday treat.
Let Them Eat Cake
I’ll do almost anything for cake – even trample little children! ~Gayle King
In ages past, packing on pounds was a way to insulate yourself against the weather.
That was counteracted by the fact that the average person had to walk miles a day just to do what they normally did.
The overall activities of daily life for most people in the time period that Christmastime hearkens back to were far more arduous than most people engage in today.
Good King Wencelas lived in the region of Bohemia in the 9th Century. In those days, the vast majority of the population were involved in arduous activities associated with farming, blacksmithing or other immediately useful trades.
Even in the Victorian Era, when a lot of our current Christmas traditions took form, the world was only beginning to industrialize. Most people were still involved in agriculture or other physically arduous professions.
What I’m saying is, calories were burnt in copious quantities.
It ain’t like that anymore.
Most of us live in a post-industrial world today. So many of us spend the day in a chair, looking at a screen.
As such, all the feasting and sumptuous foods of the holiday are even more over-the-top than they seem.
More’s the pity. We all look forward to the ridiculous treats associated with the season, but it’s just accentuating an already unhealthy lifestyle.
To make matters worse, I live in a place where Christmas generally looks like a greeting card. Which is to say, it’s cold. It snows here.
Getting out to burn off the cookies, cakes, candy and other sumptuous holiday goodies can be problematic. It’s not a big deal for me.
For one thing, I’m naturally insulated. Which is why I need to get out and burn it off.
For another thing, ever since I was stationed at Minot AFB in North Dakota, I have been acclimatized to cold weather.
I have an easier time coping with cold weather than with hot, so this is the best time of year for me to get out and burn those calories.
I had been doing a good job of getting out for my daily constitutional until recently.
Part of the reason that ended was a spate of rain. I’m not likely to enhance my health by catching pneumonia.
Most of the reason that ended was because I got too damn busy to get off the couch for anything other than potty breaks and sleeping.
That’s unacceptable at any time. It’s even more unacceptable during the holidays.
Frankly, 4Q is supposed to be a cool down lap for the year. People play hard all year so they can party hard at the holidays.
Would be awesome of some people would get with the fucking program and figure that out.
Fruitcake
Claire Saffitz Brings Fruitcake BACK | Try This At Home | NYT Cooking
I love fruitcake but I can only have a taste of it. Candied fruit? Pure sugar. It’s sugar concentrate in a colorful little chunk.
Be that as it may, it’s madly delicious and I love it a little too much.
It’s a frequently maligned holiday treat, but it really deserves its place front and center among holiday treats.
I’m not sure what I can do to rehabilitate this fabulous seasonal delicacy other than to tell you it’s utterly delicious and deserving of fair consideration.
As much as it’s a running joke, fruitcake is actually a wonderful part of the holiday season that a lot of people (including me) genuinely enjoy.
Decades
Writers know that sometimes things are there in the drawer for decades before they finally come out and you are capable of writing about them. ~Gunter Grass
This is a common talking point among writers. You’ve got that one idea that you’ve had tucked away in a drawer.
You started working on something and it wasn’t working for you, but you didn’t want to just crumple it into a ball and toss it in the bin.
Any good story needs some time to mentally marinate. Even so, there are any number of reasons why story work needs to go on the shelf for a while.
One of the primary reasons is that life gets in the damn way. Very few people can manage a full-time job and a serious bit of writing simultaneously.
Also, writer’s block is a thing. Some people will tell you it’s BS, but any stream of thought can be log-jammed by external influences.
Sometimes, you just don’t know where to go with a story. You start off with an idea, but it isn’t sufficiently developed to turn into a full plot.
Any number of things can intercept an otherwise viable idea.
The important thing is to pick something you can work on and get busy. For me, that’s actual work.
I need to get crap done so I can set some brain cycles free to do what I want to be doing. Right now, that’s finishing Carol’s Christmas.
Due to a variety of reasons, I got as far as this Saturday and simply ran out of time and energy to finish the story.
Part of the reason I established my No Mondays In 4Q Policy is to facilitate the process of getting the Holiday Season Serial Romance done before Thanksgiving so that I can kick back and enjoy the holidays. Unfortunately, people have been conspiring to ensure that the holidays are anything but enjoyable. Sadly, they have been succeeding, and it’s kind of pissing me off.
It seems there’s no end in sight to the perpetual ramping up. Something’s going to have to give.
Either way, once this year’s story is finished, formatted and set for print on demand, I’ve got to get back to The Sentinels.
Not that I can publish those any time soon. Even if I actually got a story written, there are so many bills to pay that I can’t set anything aside to pay for ISBNs for Nerdsylvania Publishing LLC at the moment.
Is it any wonder I like writing fiction? Reality sucks…
That’s it for this chilly holiday Hump 🐫 Day. Cuddle up under a blanket, watch a sappy Christmas movie and enjoy a slice of fruitcake.